City Basement Books — Local services in Melbourne

A little hidden gem right in the heart of Melbourne CBD for all those book lovers'!

I've personally been going to this bookstore for over 20 years.

Pros: ✓ Every range of genre is available, it even has a whole little room for children's books ✓ ❤️ It's literally a jungle of secondhand books at affordable prices, to the point where there's even books on the side of the book shelves ✓ As long as you've got time, you can enjoy yourself spending hours there ✓ The quality of the book ranges from excellent to okay... but I can't complain as the books are secondhand after all ✓ Always friendly staff at the counter ✓ Rare books available at the tip of your hands ✓ Location: close by Flinders Street Station

Cons: No online database, therefore if you ask for help to find a book 9 times out of 10 the staff member won't be won't be able help you... As there's no database, you could spend hours trying to look for the book you're looking for #1 pain point would be the store access is not user-friendly for those who have a disability. The staircase can either be described as stairway to heaven or hell depending on your character. Open for interpretation: The ventilation is not great, so it does smell of old books but I never complain because the books are at an affordable & reasonable price Does not have the most current books available, but that's because it's a secondhand bookstore

My overall rating would be 4.5...

City Basement Books is one of those rare treasures that are hard to find these days. Books in any and every category, time and style that you could wish for. Even for someone with the weird eclectic tastes and interests as me can find a dozen books in one visit. And if your inclinations are more mainstream, they have so many novels, travel books, cookery books, biographies etc, it'd take you a couple of days to get to the end. Of course, you usually don't have a couple of days to look, but guess what? They'll still be there when you come back next time. Plus you can view their offering online and they'll put books aside for you and you can pick them up next time you're in town. City Basement Books is always on my list when I visit Melbourne - put it on...

It was okay, I'd go back again for cheap books, but I couldn't haggle prices (some of the books were in bad condition and should have been marked down and some so old they should be discounted severely). However, it wasn't organized that well and the online site is very fiddly and tricky to use. Be prepared to spend an hour or two in there, searching (they can find which book you're looking for, but I'm not sure they can exactly find it.) Not wheelchair accessible, I believe, and has surprisingly good sir ventilation. Although, if you've got bad eyesight you may need glasses to see all the labels (bad lighting in some areas) and if you're afraid of tight spaces consider getting a friend to...